The US airlines had although begun with low cost airlines, the first one to come forward with this novel idea was the southwestern airline. Although now us airlines encompass of a large number of low airfare flights, only a few are really world-class. One such name is that of the southwestern airlines. This airline is also the largest US airline, based on the number of passengers it carries per annum.
The southwest flights began flying in 1967, with a triangular route, namely Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Until now, its largest hub is based in Dallas.
Initially a lot of efforts were done in order to keep the southwest air grounded. However after 3 years battle in the court, finally the flight took off.
Even right now most of its chartered flights follow the point to point system rather than the hub and spoke. Initially there were a number of critical situations and the southwestern airline has learned to make the best out of the available, learning on a trial and error basis. This is why it does what it firmly believes in.
With 87 % of the airline unionized, the southwestern airline is enthusiastically working on expanding their business. However, it is not keen to do this at the expense of its current customers. It is a well known fact that of all the us airlines, the one to progress the most in the least possible time is the southwest air. However the southwestern airline realizes this and does not want to over work its luck. This is the reason why it believes in slow and steady winning the race and hence is not rapidly investing in advertisements like other flying associations.
The southwestern airlines have also been associated with the southwest effect i.e a cost effective carrier in Texas. Both easyjet and ryanair take their inspirations from the south west airlines.
The southwest air cannot be booked through other agents and the tickets can be bought or booked only on the company’s own website.
Most of the vacationers who regularly visit Texas fly with the southwestern airlines exclusively. This not only spares them money on travelling, but gives them more to spend on other aspects of the vacation. Also the economical flying is the reason why most of the people in the US fly with southwest air.
Since the main aim of the airline was providing a cost effective way of travelling, it took some daring steps no other airline would dream of doing. The southwestern airline does NOT charge for changes in reservations, something no other airline does. This is done in order to provide flexibility to the customer, keeping their compliance in mind.
During all this time, the southwest flights have also managed to achieve optimum customer satisfaction. Even the american customer satisfaction index has declared the southwest air as the leading business establishment in customer satisfaction. In spite of more than 16 states being void of its services, it has managed to become the largest passenger carrying airline of the us, which is a huge accomplishment.
As of April, 2008, there have been a number of modifications in the current fleet of the southwestern airlines, making them more suitable for their passengers. The original fleet consists of 529 aircraft. Initially the Boeing 737 did not constitute much of this number. However, now more of this constitutes of the present percentage so that more people can fly with the southwest air. The average age of each of its flights is slightly less than 10 years. Also, each member of the its 529’s clan is making an average of 7 flights per day.
Of all the present Us airlines, the southwest air is one air company, which has inspired low cost airlines all over the world, more than any other set up, and has solely been responsible for the set up of companies like ryanair even in the europe.
